Is Local SEO Important

digitaltepee

September 4, 2019

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Start local, go global with local SEO Services from Digital Tepee. This article looks at how to drive local traffic to your website first when looking to launch a website or kick-start a new marketing focus. All small business owners with ambitions to dominate the online space in their sector must not look too far away from home when implementing a local SEO campaign.

Back in 2015 Google replaced its “7-pack,” the local search ranking box that previously showed seven local businesses in the Google Web search results, with the 3-pack, meaning four fewer listings now display in the local pack.

Google My Business

Ensuring that you are in the top local 3 of your field is now even more important. A clear search plan is the most critical place to start when focusing on being found on Google and local directories. This move by Google was more than likely a pre-cursor to the switch now in place to mobile results focus, otherwise know as mobile-first.

Firstly, set up your Google My Business correctly, have you used the same address formatting across all of your local citations online? Each listing should match Google and Bing and your other social profiles as social media also contribute to your NAP. A discrepancy with either can dramatically impact how your business appears in the local search results. And make sure to do some keyword research, looking at local search and add these to any citations where you can. Citations play a crucial role in how Google views your business.

Be careful here and do not use cheap offers from vendors on fiver etc. Chances are they will submit your business to very low-quality directories which could, in fact, harm your listing. Digital Tepee only use the top directories to submit and manage your company information, we also have tools in place to update that information quickly should you move office or change telephone number etc. This is very valuable to local rank as if you have lots of conflicting information stored in various directories across the web this will have a negative impact on the overall visibility of the business.

Do not discount any of this as a minor detail; Google generates a Geocode for your address so that it appears on Google Maps search results this is how customers will find your business.

Listing Categories

As discussed in our article on updates to Googles Algorithm, relevance is now a significant factor in a listing’s visibility. Google continually makes tweaks to its search engine to aline results to its users, so the more time spent on defining your store category, the better chance you have of appearing for the searches matching it. Many businesses miss this small feature and in turn, miss out on potential search traffic opportunities. So think carefully about what your business primary category will be and add up to

Review and Respond

When Google changed the local pack, they also removed exact address information and moved the starred reviews rating to the top of the list. It is now more critical than ever to get good customer feedback and ask clients to review on your Google My Business page. The better the star rating, the better the placing in the local pack listing. Responding to all reviews also shows engagement be it positive or negative feedback to show you have an active online presence and help you reach more potential customers.

Focus on Your Brand

Try not to spend to much time trying to focus on high competition keywords in your local area; you will find the larger companies with big wallets have paid to rank for these terms and it’s tough to compete. Instead, look for relevant local searches with specific search terms as possible. For example, instead of trying to rank for “builder” try instead to write content around “conservatory builder” this way you will more likely turn up in the top 3 local pack in your field and area.

Improve On-page SEO

When writing content for your landing pages for your website think about how to maximise this, always add a relevant search term and the area/region that you do business to the content.

Ensure that this information is included in your pages title, H tags, page URL and content and not forgetting alt tags.

Embedding a google map into your landing page that includes your business marker will aid with local rankings.

We hope this gives a better understanding of how to rank in the local pack.

For a more detailed discussion on how local SEO works and our range of services, why not book a Skype with us. We can discuss your requirements further and find out why we are one of the leading local SEO companies.